History Always Repeats
by ballet022
Summary: Charlotte always thought she was a pretty normal British teen. She had great friends, went to a pretty awesome boarding school in Scotland, and never had anything out of the ordinary happen. That is until a trip the the US to visit an old friend turns into so much more. The next Great Prophecy has begun and you know what they say. History always repeats.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to chapter one! Please review if you like it! Review if you don't! I have this all planned out, so if you like long fics, this is definitely for you! **

**Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own the Percy Jackson characters. **

Chapter One : Charlotte

Charlotte stood in the middle of LaGuardia airport, her bags in hand, tapping her foot against the bottom of her suitcase. Her flight from London had landed over twenty minutes ago and here she stood waiting. Waiting was not something that Charlotte particularly enjoyed and each moment she stood by the doors looking out into the glorious city that was New York her sanity decreased a little more. She had hopped the pond for the summer to visit an old friend before returning to school in August and the desire to go exploring the city on her own was almost overwhelming, but she squashed that little inkling regretfully. She didn't know the city and she didn't have a cell. If she got lost she was on her own. That's not to say that she couldn't handle herself, but she knew it wasn't sensible. She giggled at the thought. She was telling herself to be sensible. _James and Fred would have a field day if they knew they had rubbed off on me that much_, she thought. "Just breathe. She'll be here soon."

"Talking to yourself again, Lottie?" A voice said behind her.

Charlotte whirled around to see her best and long distance friend Jen. Jen stood with her hands on her hips, her long black hair pulled up in a thick pony tail, a mischievous smirk already plastered across her face. It was a look that said trouble was coming and the little part of Charlotte that had been wanting to go searching for an adventure got a little louder. "I told you not to call me that."

"Fine, Charlie. I'll go with the boring nickname." She frowned, stepping forward and flipping her bangs out of her face. She tilted her head to the side, examining Charlotte closely. "Is it just me or do you have a British accent now?"

Charlotte laughed, not surprised at all that the first thing Jen said to her a comment on her now native sounding English accent rather than a proper hello. "Only since I was five."

"It seemed more American before."

"The last time you saw me face to face was when I was ten. It was still a little American then."  
>Charlotte grinned. The accent was one of the things she didn't miss about living in the states. For her first few years in England her accent had kind of fluctuated, but after spending three years at boarding school there and five more before that living with her favorite family the American accent had been easy enough to drop.<p>

"Well, we'll just have to fix that right back! My poor British friend needs to remember her roots!" Jen smirked, then looked around as if suddenly remembering where they were standing. They had started to draw attention and despite Jen's loud personality, attention wasn't really her thing. "But we should probably finish this conversation later. I have so much I want to show you!"

Grabbing Charlotte's suitcase in one hand and her elbow in the other, Jen bolted out of the airport, nearly barreling into an elderly couple by the door. Charlotte tossed out an apology as she sped by, but she doubted that they heard. Only when they were safely settled into a cab did she pause for a breath. "So I was thinking that we could drop your stuff off at the apartment and then meet up with a friend of mine. I met him at school this past year and he's pretty cool. I'm sure you guys will get along. Just make sure you go all British-y. It's really amusing." All of this was said very quickly and as soon as Charlotte wrapped her head around the words coming out of her petite friend's mouth she gave her a quick rap on the head. She could have sworn she heard the cabbie laugh, but she ignored him.

"Hey! What do you mean go all 'British-y' on him? I am bloody British!" But Charlotte busted out laughing the second the sentence was out of her mouth. "I can't do it! I can't do it!" Cursing was never her thing, something her brother and cousin continually made fun of. The words just didn't feel right coming out of her mouth.

"That is exactly what I mean!" Jen struggled to say around her own laughs. "You may have the accent and the fancy words down, but you," Jen poked her in the arm, " can't British curse to save your life."

"British curse?"

"Yep."

"That's what you're going with?"

"It is."

"I've missed you, Jen."

Jen smiled, poking Charlotte again. "So have I my British amigo, so have I."

….…

The cabbie dropped them off at the corner of Walnut and Cherry and drove off still laughing at their antics on the drive over. Jen pointed out a small brick building across the street, and after a quick glance in each direction, headed over. "It used to be a factory back in the twenties," Jen explained as the lugged Charlotte's suitcase up the stairs to the front door. "Down there," she said pointing at a brown building two doors down, "was a drafting station during the forties. The one next door to this one," She pointed to her right. "It used to be a newspaper office. You can still smell where the paper was processed and printed. They did it all themselves."

Charlotte looked around. It was true that you could see the history in the buildings. They all seemed to have stories to tell, and despite the lingering paper smell, Jen's apartment was absolutely adorable in an old fashioned way. "I love it."

"Eh, it's alright," Jen said nonenthused. Charlotte tried to linger, to glimpse the old decorated parlor that was left downstairs or to examine the detailing in the light fixtures, but Jen grabbed her arm again and pulled her right behind her. "You can look at that old stuff later. We have to meet my friend in twenty minutes. At this rate we'll probably be late." She glanced down at Charlotte as if to say she was disappointed.

"Oh, come on!" Charlotte exclaimed, jerking at her case when it caught on a step. Jen slowed down, but only barely. "You can't possibly blame me. You were the one who showed up twenty minutes late to pick me up. "

"A wizard is never late; he arrives precisely when he means to. Everyone else is simply early." Jen quoted straight faced before giving Charlotte's arm another tug.

Charlotte choked on her laughter because it was far funnier to her than Jen meant it to be. If only Jen knew. There had been plenty of times that she had wanted to tell her. She had hinted enough times and had even let her glimpse a few of her little accidents, but Jen had never guessed and her father had made sure she understood the rules when he agreed to her little overseas trip. "Only problem, Jen, is you aren't a wizard."

Jen narrowed her eyes and raised one eyebrow. "As far as you know." Jen had finally come to a stop on the six floor landing. There was only one door. "Anyway," she said inserting her key into the lock. "Here we are, home sweet home at 221B."

Charlotte got a quick glance at the room, a flash of red paint, before Jen grabbed her bag, threw it into the room, and slammed the door shut. Charlotte shook her head, not at all surprised by her friend's antics. "Shouldn't we at least let your mom know that I'm here safe and sound? That my plane didn't crash in a fiery explosion?"

"Don't be silly, Lottie dear. She would have heard of an explosion that tremendous on the news already." Jen's grin was one that Charlotte knew well. It meant something very entertaining or very stupid was about to happen. Knowing Jen it was probably both. "Besides, Mom is working the night shift so she won't be back until early tomorrow morning, and you my dear friend need to get acquainted with both my friend and the town." The grin widened. "We have a lot to do."

"Ah, bloody hell," Charlotte cursed as Jen took her arm and dragged her towards the door once more.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Ferin

Charlotte knew better than to ask any questions while Jen was dragging down stairs without looking to see if her feet were going to connect with the floor or not. She knew from experience that an action like that only had painful and long lasting consequences. Jen slowed when they reached the front door, dropped Charlotte's arm, and continued down the street without looking back to see if Charlotte was following. Charlotte, taking advantage of her free moment from Jen's random impulses, asked the first question that popped into her head. "Aren't we going to catch a cab?"

Jen turned around and started walking backwards, the people behind her dodging out of her way as they noticed she clearly wasn't going to be moving herself. "Eh, the place we're going is right down the street. Shouldn't be more than a ten minutes' walk if you don't keep lagging behind."

"I'm not lagging!" Charlotte insisted as she almost tripped over a crack in the sidewalk that Jen had somehow avoided even with her back turned. "And what is this place we're going called anyway? You never said."

"Ohhhh, say never again. It sounds all proper and English-y." Jen chuckled.

"Jen!" Charlotte didn't bother to point out once again that for all intents and purposes she was English. The argument wasn't worth bothering with at the moment.

"Fine, fine!" Jen whirled back around to face where she was going just in time to narrowly avoid smacking into a metal pole. "We are heading to a nice little coffee shop about three blocks down. John's Cup it's called. That's where I'm going to introduce you to my new good buddy Ferin." Jen started skipping, turning a sharp corner, and Charlotte hurried to keep up with her.

"Ferin," she repeated when she reached Jen's side. "That's a really….unusual name."

"I thought it was too, at first. He's an odd kid with an odd name. Apparently it's a family name or something. I didn't question him too much about it. He got sort of twitchy."

"And how exactly did you too become friends?" Charlotte had to admit to herself she was intrigued. Jen was what teachers referred to as a "problem child." To her rules were strictly guidelines, meant only as suggestions, not actually created to be followed.

Being fair to Jen though, not all of the trouble she got into over the years was on purpose, but it was a pretty even split which was why she spent so much time jumping from school to school. No one wanted to keep the hyperactive Jen Reynolds for more than a year. If Charlotte was being honest with herself, she would probably be in the exact same situation, especially with all the trouble she and her two mischief making partners got into. Going to a school like hers had some major advantages besides the obvious. And that was why Charlotte found herself so interested in this Ferin kid. As far as she knew, she was the only person who had ever really gotten past the boundaries that Jen put around herself. For Jen to want to introduce them on the day of her arrival was the highest of praises. He must have been special.

"Ah, you know the usual. He was kind of a loner because of his name and he's really shy. I was the new girl. Of course we were partnered for the first project of the year and BAM!" she yelled making Charlotte jump and fall behind a step. "Instant friends." She smiled a little at that. It must have been contagious because Charlotte was smiling too.

"I'm glad it worked out."

Now Jen frowned. "Only for a little while though. I got expelled. Again."

Charlotte held back her sigh. Poor Jen. "What was it this time? Get your essay off the internet or something?" She questioned.

"Called my biology teacher an old sot. Whatever that means."

Charlotte lost it again. "It means old drunk. Are you so out of insults now you have to go with stuff you don't even know the meaning of? I thought I taught you better than that! Last time I was here you were doing sarcasm at its finest!" She smirked, slightly pleased at the memories of having to teach Jen abut sarcasm. For someone with such a loud mouth she had been seriously lacking in the witty retort department before Charlotte was done with her. She was proud of that fact that she had been the one doing the corrupting, if only for a little bit.

"I was so angry at him! I said it without thinking! It was just word vomit. After the class went silent I realized it probably wasn't the best move. Especially now that you tell me what it means. He really was an old drunk." Jen chuckled. "Anyway I'm sure Ferin is staying there and I'll be going to a local high school this time. Mom wants to try what a public school will-AH! Here we are!"

Jen stopped so suddenly that Charlotte collided with the back of her head with an oof! And landed hard on the concrete below. Dizzy and seeing stars, she was still trying to orient herself when she saw a hand come into her line of vision. She grabbed it and was pulled to her feet by, she discovered, not Jen but a boy who looked to be about her age. He had a rich olive complexion, dark curly hair, and bright green eyes. He was wearing a simple button down, loose jeans, and big red Converse All Stars. Charlotte was a little startled to notice that he and Jen almost matched. The only differences were the pattern on their shirts-his was plaid while Jen's was a solid black- her shirt was left unbuttoned and rolled up, a deep purple cami visible underneath, and she had replaced the baggy jeans and Converses for skinny jeans and Vans. "You must be Ferin."

He smiled soflty. "How did you guess?" Yes, compared to the over enthusiastic Jen, Ferin was much more reserved. Charlotte liked him immediately.

"Jen's talked a lot about you. I'm Charlotte by the way. I don't know if Jen told you I was coming. She forgets a lot of things. I think she almost forgot to meet me at the airport today, although she would never admit it."

"Hey!" Jen tried to interject, but Ferin talked right over her, despite keeping his voice at the same low tone.

"She's talked about you a lot too. Her American best friend who thinks she's British."

"I am bloody British," Charlotte cursed, sending her best death glare in Jen's direction and was pleased that Jen took a step closer to Ferin as if thinking that he would intervene.

Ferin smiled a bit broader now. "I can see that."

Charlotte turned to Jen. "Can you go order me a cuppa, please?"

Jen huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning. "What the heck is a cuppa? And why can't you bloody get it yourself."

Charlotte laughed and she heard Ferin trying to turn his into a cough but was completely unsuccessful and Jen turned her puppy dog look on him. "One: A cuppa is a cup of tea. Takes way too much time to say. Two: Leave the 'British cursing ' as you call it too me. It sounds like rubbish with an American accent. Three: Wasn't the point of this to let me and Ferin get to know each other? I can't very well get to know your new best mate if I'm standing in the queue."

"AHHHH!" Jen exclaimed. "Too much Britishness for me to handle. Fine. I'll get the tea. You too go gossip about the awesomeness that is Jen. I'll be back in a moment."

And with that she was gone, rushing off to butt her way in line way ahead of where she should be as Charlotte and Ferin headed to a secluded little table in a corner, right near the back exit. Charlotte shook her head. "She can't walk anywhere. I'm surprised she hasn't killed someone in one of her mad dashes."

Ferin laughed out loud now that Jen and her glares were safely out of earshot. "Yes. That took a bit of time to get used. Not only does she rush around but she expects me to too! But you handled that really well."

Charlotte nodded. "I've known Jen since I was five and living in the States. Not many people are able to appreciate her. You seem to be doing quite well too."

Ferin smiled and looked down at the table. "She's great. She was really there for me this past year. School hasn't exactly been easy for me, but Jen kept everyone in line. I don't know what I would have done without her."

Charlotte watched as Ferin yawned, "I'm sorry. I haven't been sleeping well and-" He paused and looked up from the table very slowly, meeting Charlotte's eyes. Charlotte looked back for a second, and when he continued to stare she broke the contact and looked around her quickly.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, still not sure exactly what was going on. Ferin shook himself and looked out the window, a light blush tinting his cheeks. He muttered a quick no, but he didn't look back at her and he seemed deep in thought. Charlotte glanced at the queue briefly and saw that Jen was still waiting to give their orders. Should she go get her? Was this something that Ferin did often? Charlotte remembered that Jen had used the word odd to describe him, but this was more than odd…it was really starting to creep her out.

"Can I ask why you left the states?" He asked, turning back to look at her, although the questioning stare was replaced with a look of polite curiosity.

"My mum was from England. She was here on business when I was born. We didn't move back until I was five. That was how I met Jen. Our mothers kept in touch and so did Jen and I. I used to come back to visit on holidays and summer break. I got to a boarding school in Scotland now though so my visits are as often as I wish."

"Is your mom here with you?" He asked, the polite curiosity now coming on a little stronger. Charlotte shifted in her seat, not entirely comfortable with talking about this with a stranger.

"No. She died right after we got back to England. To be honest I don't remember her all that much."

"And your father?"

"Never met him. He left her before I was born." Charlotte looked out the window, already guessing his next question before he could ask it. She felt much better volunteering the information than taking place in this round of twenty questions. Jen liked him so… "A family in England that my mother was close to adopted me when she died. They had a son only a month older than me and a nephew around our age too. They went to the same boarding school as me and knew each other from there. They're the only parents I know."

"Oh, this complicates things," he sighed, resting his elbows on the tables and putting his face in his hands.

"Excuse me?" Charlotte asked, on the edge of freaking out. Who was this kid to be asking her such personal questions after just meeting her with such a hungry look in his eyes. It was Jen they were supposed to be discussing not her!

"No!" He said the loudest Charlotte had ever heard him get. "Ah, I'm going about this all wrong, but I wasn't expecting- I mean nobody knew-. I'm sorry. I must have you really freaked out now. I'm not meaning to its just-"

"Here's that cuppa you demanded!" Jen announced coming into view with a plastic container holding three steaming cups. "I can't wait to try this new Brazilian blend they-"

Ferin jerked the tray down on the table much to Jen's surprise. She stood there staring at Ferin, her mouth hanging open wide. Charlotte's sense of unease grew. If this wasn't how Ferin normally acted- and she prayed to God it wasn't- then what had this boy so freaked out?

"I'm sorry," Ferin said hurriedly, looking quickly behind his shoulder out the large glass windows. "I never expected this. This is way too dangerous now. I was hoping to bring you after the visit." This was directed at Jen. "But now that I know this too…" He glanced at Charlotte and then away. "We have to go now. I don't know how you two have managed this long without being found, but whatever it was won't be enough if you're together. We need to move. Now!"

"In danger?" Jen was still shocked her eyes wide. "What are you talking about, Ferin? You're starting to scare me."

Ferin glanced at us both quickly, making sure to meet both of us in the eyes before saying , "You need to be scared. Now come on."

"Come where?" The girls asked together, looking at each other to see if they were getting what was going on any clearer.

"The strawberry patches, now let's go!" And with that he grabbed both their hands a la Jen and dragged them out the back door into the sun.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. I do not own the Percy Jackson characters.**

Chapter Three: Skeletons

Ferin tried to pull Charlotte and Jen down the street without anything more of an explanation, but the girls glanced at each other and instantly knew what the other was thinking. With a jerk, Charlotte stopped in her place, grinding her trainers into the concrete while Jen snatched her arm from a bewildered Ferin's loosened grasp. "No." Jen said, smacking Ferin's arm lightly until he let go of Charlotte's sleeve. "We aren't going anywhere until you tell us what's going on. Why are you freaking out Ferin? What happened back there?"

Ferin sighed and started pacing. "I can't tell you much. It's too dangerous to be talking about this out in the open. We need to move now. Before they find us." He looked up from Charlotte to Jen.

"What sort of rubbish is this? You sound like you're talking about spies. 007, and all of that." Charlotte crossed her arms. At first she thought this was a joke. Some elaborate game Jen had created for her amusement on her first day back in the states. Rush about a bit. Have a laugh. Not care about what anyone who happened to be watching them was thinking. That sounded like a normal Jen way to spend a day. Now Charlotte wasn't so sure.

It was clear by this point that this wasn't in fact how Ferin acted in a normal day, if it was she doubted Jen would have been able to stand him. And it was clear that Jen wasn't involved in whatever he was playing at because of the thoroughly bewildered look in her eyes and the way she kept glancing at Charlotte as if expecting _her_ to have all the answers. Then Ferin broke Charlotte out of her thoughts with a single sentence that sent chills down her spine.

"I wish it was that simple." He looked at them both now, sadly. Charlotte saw a flash of real regret in his eyes before he turned around and started rushing down the street again. "I'll explain what I can as we walk, just keep moving."

"Shouldn't we catch a cab?" Jen asked, keeping in step with Ferin. Charlotte was only a few paces behind.

"Too dangerous. I'm so stupid. I shouldn't have thought I could wait the summer. Although it would have been worse if we left before…" He trailed off as he turned the corner and crossed the street without a glance. Charlotte and Jen were struggling to keep up now. "You two are in serious danger. I need to get you a safe place and fast." They turned onto another street, smaller this time, with less of the blazing lights of central Manhattan. The buildings were starting to look like quaint little houses, but Ferin didn't stop walking as his explanation continued.

"All I can tell you now is that the world isn't all that it seems to be. What you can't see is all the more terrifying than any kind of monster you can imagine."

_I doubt that,_ Charlotte thought as she imagined a ghostly creature in a dark black cloak gliding across a frozen lake, all life wilting in its path, a coldness that crept into your veins dragging all the happiness out of you in slow painful surges until there was nothing left but the darkness and the things better left hidden in the shadows.

Charlotte shook herself and tuned back into the conversation, forcing herself to focus on the fact that Ferin was getting awfully close to a very touchy topic. "Names have power you see, otherwise I could explain everything to you right now and-"

"Excuse me, miss?" A low gravelly voice sounded from behind her and Charlotte was stopped in her tracks by a hand gently grabbing her shoulder. "Can I offer you a cab?"

"Thank you, sir, but we-" Charlotte stopped mid turn as she caught a glimpse of the man behind her. "Ferin." She said quickly. "FERIN!"

"We've got to move, Charlo- " His words were drowned out by Jen high pitched scream. Resting on Charlotte's shoulder, the grip growing tighter by the second was a gnarly old hand. Muscles and sinew hung off the bones in rivets like streamers. White and browning bone was visible where patches of skin were missing completely and Charlotte was overwhelmed with the smell of decayed and rotting flesh. A wave of nausea crashed into her, but she swallowed it down as her eyes roamed up the arm, across the collar bone, and into the monsters face, her level of horror increasing with every inch as the amount of decomposition grew. No skin covered the gaping jaw at all and there were gaps where teeth were missing or falling out and hair hung in think oily clumps from the only patch of skin left on its skull. Worst of all were they eyes, gaping blank holes, unseeing, filled with an ice blue glow that shone across her face in the shadows of the building around them.

For a single moment they stood like that, Ferin and Jen watching opened mouthed at the monster that had Charlotte in its clutches. Charlotte herself was frozen in disbelief at the creature. Then all at once it was like a key had been turned inside her head, a rush of inspiration and adrenaline pushed her in action. She grabbed the hand that was holding her, grimacing at the way the way the flesh slid across her palm leaving a slimy trail, and twisted the bone around until her heard a definite crack. In the time it took for the skeleton thing to rotate the bone back into place, Charlotte had her bag over her shoulder and it connected with a thudding BAM. Bone dust and brain matter littered the concrete sidewalk around her. This time she couldn't hold back the revulsion she felt and threw up across the already soiled street.

She glanced back at Jen, whose mouth was covered by her hands, and Ferin who stood visibly shaking. "Oh gods." He muttered, looking pale. "I thought we could at least get to the highway before this."

"Look out!" Charlotte cried as more of the creatures lumbered slowly into the low light. Charlotte looked around madly, desperately trying to find anything, anyone that could explain what was going on. The street was empty. They were on their own. Ferin shoved at a creature reaching towards him. A third creature had its hands wrapped tightly around Jen's throat. They struggled for a moment, Jen gasping as the pressure and need to breathe increased.

"Jen!" Charlotte screamed. "Don't just stand there! Do something!" Jen was frozen in place, staring up at the monster that had her doing nothing to get away or weaken its hold on her. Charlotte struggled to reach her, fight the creature off of Jen herself, but another monster had caught the back of her jacket and was dragging her close to it, farther away from Jen as Ferin fought against his own skeleton. More of them were coming now, out of the shadows , the alley ways. What had once been an empty street was now full of dead creatures whose only purpose, it seemed, was to kill them all. Everywhere Charlotte turned there were more of them. Where had they come from? Why hadn't they noticed them before?

"JEN! FIGHT!" Charlotte screamed as a creature jerked her head back by her hair and bringing a long, sharp finger nail towards her throat. She slammed her head into its own and stomped it into the ground, whirling around to see Jen suddenly spring into action at the sound of Charlotte's voice. She kicked out, her foot connecting with its knee and Charlotte watched as the knee cap twisted around backwards. The creature held on as Jen started swinging at anything within her reached. Her fist collided with the monster's head . It crashed to the ground with a thud and Jen was free.

The cab the first skeleton had gotten out of still sat beside them, door open, keys in the ignition. "Quick!" Charlotte yelled. "In here!" She swung her bag in a wide arc, making contact with at least two more creatures as Ferin and Jen scurried into the passenger side. Charlotte jumped into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut behind her. The monsters beat heavily on the glass, covering the driver's side completely. Thin webbings of cracks had just started spreading across the window beside her as the car roared to life. Jen let out another scream and Charlotte's foot rammed down on the accelerator with as much force as she could muster and the car jerked forward, taking them quickly away from the still stumbling skeletons who were reaching out their grimy fingers towards their lost prey.

Charlotte let out a breathe of oxygen she hadn't been aware she was holding as Jen and Ferin stared over at her. "Now where the bloody hell are those strawberry patches?"

"Turn left up there," Ferin said, pointing in a direction that would lead the trio out of town. Charlotte made the turn without slowing down and Jen would have been thrown into Charlotte's lap if Ferin hadn't had a firm grip on her bag's strap.

"I want answers, Ferin. What is going on?" Charlotte demanded keeping her eyes on the road, but the force in her voice was clear.

"We followed because you had us worried," Jen added, turning as much in the awkward angle she was sitting in as she could to look at him. "I think we deserve to know what's going on."

Ferin banged his head against the window but didn't answer. He didn't speak for a long time except to give directions. The sun had already started to slip behind the tree lines when he finally spoke. They had been driving for at least an hour and a half and both Jen and Charlotte had stopped pestering him with questions that would go unanswered. Finally, as if making some great decision, he turned to them and asked. "What would you say if I told you that there was more to the world than what you actually knew?"

The girls were quiet. Charlotte's hands tightened around the steering wheel. Once again the subject was being addressed by Ferin. Not just tiptoed around or hinted at like all the times she had tried to get Jen curious. There was a cold gripping her chest as she continued to drive down the long narrow street they had been on for quite some time now. A part of her, one little spark of hope, prayed that she already knew the subject of this discussion. Magic. It was real. It was out there, hidden in a world only visible to the fair lucky few who had been born into it. That was unreal enough on its own. But a larger part, the part that sent a shiver down her spine, the feeling of ice slipping slowly through her, knew that that was not the case. There was something more to this than anything she had ever understood before. She knew instinctly that whatever Ferin was about to reveal was going to completely shake the foundations of everything her knowledge of the world was based on.

"What are you talking about?" Jen asked, thoroughly confused now. Whatever strange explanation she had been expecting after everything that had just happened, his question wasn't it.

"Like magic." Charlotte interrupted before Ferin could even open his mouth. "Myths. Lengends. How else are we going to explain what just happened. We just attacked by walking skeletons."

"But…But magic and all that.." Jen stammered. "It's not real. It's just pretend. Stories to tell little children at bedtime and all that."She looked from me to Ferin as if asking us to agree or to laugh and say that all of this had been a clever little ruse to get her even for all the tricks she had played on us.

"Charlotte, Jen," Ferin said looking at each of us as he said our names. "What do you know about the Greek gods?"

"Not too much," Charlotte answered. And while it wasn't exactly a lie, it wasn't completely the truth either. She had read a book once as a first year about the Greek myths and she still remembered a good bit of the stories although she was kind of blurred on some of the finer details.

"The Greek who?" Jen asked.

"Ah," Ferin mumbled. "I shouldn't be doing this now. Chiron is so much better at explaining all of this in the beginning."

"Chiron?" Charlotte questioned as the name set off little bells in her head. "Wasn't he the one who trained the heroes for their quests?"

"That's right!" Ferin perked up, looking excited that she at least understood a little of what he was talking about.

"Wait." Jen said holding out her hands at us in a stop signal. "Heroes like Hercules? Those Greek gods? And the singing muses and all that?"

Ferin face palmed while Charlotte busted out laughing. "Right people, completely wrong details."

"But you're on the right track."Ferin amended. "Do you know what the gods were most famous for in all of the myths? The reoccurring factor?"

"Singing?" Jen tried to joke, but nobody laughed. "Ah, come on, Ferin. You can't be serious. You aren't actually trying to say that the Greek gods were real. Right?"

Ferin didn't even crack a smile. "I think that is exactly what he is trying to say, Jen. And what the gods were most famous for was…" Charlotte's eyes widen as realization struck her. "No way," she mumbled in complete awe. "No way. No way. Oh my gods."

"What?" Jen asked. "What is going on? I don't know enough to get what you're going on about."

"Jen, the thing that the gods were most famous for was having children with mortals. With humans. Children who grew up to be the heroes of all the legends we've heard of. Heroes who fight monsters."

"You can't actually believe all of that? Charlotte? It's impossible. Stuff like that isn't real! We would know!"

"Did you ever think," Charlotte asked, turning her eyes from the road and glanced at her best friend, "that the world we know is just the world as we see it, not the world as it actually is. We can't presume we know everything that is out there. That is what is really impossible."

"Well said, Charlotte, and-"

"LOOK OUT!" Jen screamed. Charlotte jerked her attention back onto the road in time to see a set of headlight blazing in from of her, coming straight towards them.

"Get on your side!" Charlotte yelled.

"WE AREN'T IN ENGLAND, LOTTIE! NOW MOVE!" and with that Jen grabbed the wheel jerking it to the right hard. The headlights zoomed by in the sound of a honking horn as the cab flew off the road and hit a small hill, flipping it over and sending it tumbling across the open field they had been following for almost the entire drive. Grass and dirt flew in all different directions as the car rolled across it's hood, spinning as it when. The trio were thrown into their seat belts with enough force to knock the wind out of them. Charlotte's head cracked against the door as they slowed to a stop.

"And that my friends," Jen said woozily, struggling to get her seat belt undone, is why we always drive on the RIGHT side of the road. Right is right!" She giggled.

"Oh, gods." Charlotte said wriggling out of her own seat belt and pushing herself forwards towards them. "Is she concussed? I think she's concussed. What do we do? Ferin? Are you okay?"

Ferin's head popped up from beside Jen where he was just undoing her seat belt for her. She collapsed into his arms and he looked up at Charlotte. A thin line of blood ran from his hair to his cheek leaving a zigzagging trail of red, but other than that he seemed fine. "Charlotte? Are you okay?"

Charlotte reached up to touch her forehead where it collided with the glass. Her hand came away wet and sticky and raw. Flipping it over, she found shards of glass sticking out of her hand at odd angles. Thinking it better to leave them in since she didn't know how deep they went, she shrugged. Even that small action sent spots dancing across her vision. But she pushed them away. Jen 's head was lolled across Ferin's shoulder and they were still trapped in the upside down car.

The window beside her was covered in thin spider web cracks running from end to end. Charlotte braced herself for the pain and shoved her hand against it with as much force as she could must. The window shatter and fire raced up her arm as more glass dug in and caught hold. "Come on, she said, climbing out and reaching for Jen. Ferin passed her through.

"Pretty goat," Jen muttered, "Pretty goat."

"Be quiet, Jen. Ferin, are you coming?" Charlotte asked, trying to stand with the dead weight that an incoherent Jen had become.

"My pants are caught on something!" He called. "Hold on!" Then a curly head appeared in the window and Ferin crawled out. Minus his pants.

"Pretty goat," Jen cooed from her place on the ground. "Pretty goat." At first Charlotte didn't know what Jen was muttering about and then she saw it. From the waist down their friend was in fact a goat.

"So you're a satyr."

"You're a witch."

"We learn something new every day don't we?" Charlotte asked, grinning at the absurdity of the situation.

"That we do. But right now, we need to get up that hill," he said pointing in the direction of a large tree sitting at the crest of the hill. Lightning flashed across the sky and thundered crashed around them. A roar sounded in the distance. "The sooner, the better actually."

"I'm Jen!" Jen sang.

"Sure you are, sweetie." Charlotte said, grabbing her under her arms as Ferin grabbed her feet and together they started up the hill, rain falling in sheets onto of them.


End file.
